Here is a rundown of highlights for the planning committee meeting of council at City Hall on Monday night. A couple of inquiries highlighted the meeting, which resumed the regular schedule of committee meetings at City Hall following the summer break.
One prominent topic was the pending return of the F.E. Holliday water treatment plant to full production, a prominent topic at city council a week earlier.
A week earlier, council had decided the GE filtration system and the supply line from the Town of Battleford’s water treatment plant would be decommissioned and the F.E. Holliday would resume full operations sourcing water from the North Saskatchewan River. The indication was that the Battleford water line would be turned off that week.
Mayor Ryan Bater asked for an update on the situation. In response, city manager Jim Puffalt reported the water from the Battleford water line was indeed turned off on Friday, as expected.
This does not mean the line is completely out of commission.
“It’s still active, as we’ve talked about doing, for another couple of weeks,” said Puffalt. But the line to Battleford has been turned off.
Director of utilities Stewart Schafer also confirmed that both the Battleford line and the G.E. Filtration system had been shut off, and they were now starting to take water directly from the intakes in the river. The GE filtration system is still connected, but Schafer said the water is no longer running through it.
“What we’ve done is just open the intakes straight in,” said Schafer.
The city’s leisure facilities were the subject of an inquiry by Councillor Kelli Hawtin, who asked whether the city had looked into putting hand dryers in all the washrooms in city facilities.
The suggestion had been raised in a conversation with a constituent who thought it might be greener, and also save money on the use of paper towels.
Director of Leisure Services Bill Samborski responded that the city had looked into the idea of a conversion a couple of years ago, but learned that the dryers were actually not as clean or healthy as they might seem.
“They’re high powered, they dry nice, but they’re full of bacteria,” said Samborski.
The high capital cost of converting to them was also significant. They haven’t done anything more since then, Samborski said, though he said “it’s something we have to keep thinking about,” said Samborski.
Councillor Greg Lightfoot reiterated some of Samborski’s same points. He noted that at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Ottawa it was also mentioned there that air dryers aren’t as cost-effective as they’re slated to be, and there “can be more bacteria issues” than with paper towels.
At the Monday meeting, Samborski also reported on some of the work done at the Civic Centre during the summer.
Among the projects getting a particular thumbs-up from the director was the north parking lot project at the Civic Centre in July, designed to provide better drainage of water away from the Civic Centre during major rain events.
According to Samborski, the newly redone lot was put to the test quickly with some major rainfall events that previously would have caused flooding inside the building. Fortunately, the water drained quickly and the integrity of the lot did not falter; Samborski credited the work of city engineer Bob Anthony for that.
There was also a new paint job to dressing rooms number 4 and 5 at the Civic Centre.
Also installed at the Civic Centre this summer were some new high Bay LED lights, resulting in improved lighting quality inside the Civic Centre during events. They also have instant-on and instant-off capabilities as well.
Councillor Kevin Steinborn thanked the city for “the hard work for all the facilities.” He noted he’d seen the new lights during the pre-season games at the rink.
“Everybody’s commenting on the lights,” said Steinborn, saying they’ve made a “big, big difference.”
